1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a power saving management system and, more particularly, to a power saving management system which can reduce the whole electric power consumption of the output apparatuses in a printer processing system in an environment such that the output apparatuses such as a plurality of copying apparatuses, printers, facsimiles, and the like and a workstation, a personal computer, an information terminal, and the like which are used by the user are connected to a network.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, a computer network (hereinafter, simply referred to as a network) in which various computers and their peripheral equipment are connected so that information can be bidirectionally communicated has been established. Such a computer network is a technique which is drawing much attention because productivity and efficiency can be remarkably improved by a method whereby a plurality of users share information and a burden of information processes is distributed on the network.
The reasons for such improvement are as follows: even a computer for personal use can be easily used as advanced and high-speed information processing means owing to the rapid realization of excellent performance, miniaturization, and reduction in costs of the computers; a wired or wireless data communicating technique of a high speed has been developed; an idea of a distributed processing architecture has been spread; and the like.
Further, an idea such that output apparatuses such as copying apparatuses, printers, and the like which have, so far, been used so far as stand-alone peripheral equipment or as peripheral equipment connected to one host computer in most cases are also arranged onto the same network and shared by a plurality of users (clients) has been widespread.
A main frame, a workstation, a personal computer, an information terminal, and the like using the foregoing computer are connected by the network and information accumulated in a file, a database, or the like can be shared. By also connecting the copying apparatuses, printers, facsimile apparatuses, and the like serving as output apparatuses, they can be also shared. The productivity and efficiency of the output apparatuses and the use convenience of the users can be remarkably improved.
As mentioned above, an advantage which is obtained by establishing the network is large and such a network system is being spread in various fields such as offices, factories, research institutes, educational institutions, and the like.